December 16, 1999 | Read Time: 1 minute
The magazine Fast Company (December) includes four charity executives among its cover story on 16 “change agents, digital thinkers, talent scouts, designers, and dreamers.”
Under the category of “social justice,” the magazine recognizes:
* Alan Khazei and Vanessa Kirsch, a husband-and-wife team who “have a good sense of the future of civil society,” according to the magazine. Mr. Khazei co-founded and runs City Year, the Boston-based charity that encourages community service. Ms. Kirsch started Public Allies, a youth-service program based in Washington, before founding New Profit, an organization that seeks to apply venture-capital techniques to charity financing.
* Ernesto Cortes, Jr., southwest regional director of the Industrial Areas Foundation, in Austin, Texas.
* Tracy Westen, founder and president of the Democracy Network, a communications channel based in Los Angeles.
Fast Company says it included the social-justice category because “those with the talent to succeed in the new economy have a responsibility to address its harsh side effects.”
In another philanthropy-related article, the magazine asks 17 people about their philosophies on “giving back.”
Among the responses:
* Actor Edward Asner: “The greatest service that you can do is to expose hypocrisy, question authority, and blow the whistle. These are not popular activities. There are punishments for those who participate in them. But it takes no courage at all to give your name or your money to the symphony orchestra.”
* Michel Roux, president and founder of Crillon Importers: “I’ve always operated under the principle that your first real dollar isn’t the first dollar that you earn. Your first real dollar is the one that you give away.”
The Fast Company articles are available on line at http://www.fastcompany.com/online/30.
